Third-grader to perform at Carnegie Hall

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — A Brookdale Elementary School third-grader will play Carnegie Hall on Monday, Feb. 12.

Cooper Manning, 8, achieved the distinction by winning second place in the Elite International Competition at Caldwell University last month. He will play a piano solo from “The Adventures of Ivan,” by the 20th-century Russian composer Aram Khachaturian. There are eight suites, or pieces, to the adventures, each one providing a glimpse into a boy’s life. Cooper will perform Suite No. 2, “Ivan Can’t Go Out Today.”

In an interview at a Broad Street diner on Sunday, Feb. 4, Cooper said he began playing the piano when he was 5 years old. He is currently being instructed by Yuka Yanagi at the John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University. He said he likes his teacher because she is a good musician and strict.

“She gives me homework, one or two songs in a book, Cooper said. “And songs from another book. Maybe five songs. If they’re right, we go on to the next song in the book.”

Although he likes to listen to the beat-driven, electronic music known as techno, he practices the piano every day, and composes his own music, too.

“I like to make up songs and play along with the radio,” Cooper said.
And it does not matter to him if he is playing the family upright or a Steinway.

Cooper is a twin, a minute younger than his sister, Callie, but taller. The two started out taking piano lessons, but Cooper began to develop more quickly. Their mother, Carol, said she thought it was important for her children to learn to read music as they would another language.

“There’s a connection between music and math,” she said. “Cooper loves math.”
Cooper admits to a little nervousness about playing Carnegie Hall. It will be his first time ever being there.
“They have a very big recital hall,” he said.

He will perform in Weill Recital Hall along with other first- and second-place winners of the Elite competition. Cooper said he was not nervous about the competition because he did not know the winners would be going to Carnegie Hall.

“I thought it was just for fun,” he said.
Cooper also plays travel soccer for the Bloomfield Soccer Club, and enjoys chess and computer programming.